Email Newsletters

Daily Photo Galleries

North Hills Photo Galleries

Traveling by Jeep, boat and foot, Tribune-Review investigative reporter Carl Prine and photojournalist Justin Merriman covered nearly 2,000 miles over two months along the border with Mexico to report on coyotes — the human traffickers who bring illegal immigrants into the United States. Most are Americans working for money and/or drugs. This series reports how their operations have a major impact on life for residents and the environment along the border — and beyond.

Nine months of detours await motorists who use the Middle Road bridge over the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Hampton.

The bridge will close March 11 for demolition and replacement by the Joseph B. Fay Co. of Frazer Township, on behalf of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

“They're moving the utility poles now. They've acquired all the rights of way, and everything that they need to do the work,” said Chris Lochner, manager of Hampton Township.

“It's a three-season project, which means it probably will last through late fall or the end of the year,” Lochner said. “It calls for the full demolition of the bridge and, of course, the reconstruction of a new bridge.

“There's no doubt it's going to be a significant inconvenience,” Lochner said.

“We're obviously concerned about moving emergency equipment. It will cause us a little bit of a dilemma,” Lochner said. “It will be absolutely critical — and the dispatch center is aware of this, and has already taken steps accordingly — to make sure that when calls are dispatched to the Middle Road area, that it's clearly spelled out to the emergency responding units — fire fighters, emergency medical technicians, police or whatever — which side of the Middle Road bridge it's (an emergency call) on.”

The Middle Road bridge is among six local spans that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission plans to replace in preparation for total reconstruction of the turnpike — by 2018 — between the Butler Valley and Allegheny Valley interchanges. The other bridges are in Indiana and Harmar townships.

The turnpike commission plans to spend $200 million to replace the overhead structures and then widen the toll road to three lanes, in both directions, for eight miles.

The commission closed the Gibsonia Road (Route 910) bridge over the turnpike on Feb. 11 and posted a 12-mile detour for cars and 20-mile detour for trucks. Demolition and replacement of the Gibsonia Road bridge also is expected to take nine months.

“Come March, we are going to detour people around that bridge,” said Pennsylvania Turnpike spokesman Tom Fox. “We do not plan to put out a press release until March.”

Complicating plans for detours around the Middle Road bridge project is PennDOT's plan to improve the intersection of Route 8 and Hardies Road during the same time frame.

That project doesn't call for closings, but it calls for delays.

“We know that Wildwood Road Extension will be used. We know that McNeal Road will be used for a while,” Lochner said. “I anticipate that the majority of the detour is going to be East Bardonner Road to East Hardies Road to Middle Road. Route 8 will become a key component.”

TribLive commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments  either by the same reader or different readers.

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Total Promotional Solutions

A division of Trib Total Media is your one-stop-shop for all of your branded merchandise needs.

We specialize in providing quality affordable promotional products for every type of business including non-profits, schools, universities, sports teams and more. With 1000’s of products to choose from, our knowledgeable staff can help you find the perfect apparel item or product to suit your needs and budget.

Digital Sales

We offer a wide variety of traditional and new digital advertising options customized to fit your needs!

Whether you're just starting out, or you've been a keystone in the community for years, our knowledgeable staff can provide you with a customized package including online banners/advertisements, Social Media Marketing (Facebook / Twitter), Website development, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing solutions and much more!

Contact your local sales rep today for details, personalized proposal and a meeting to discuss how we can meet your needs.